The concept of a watch that does anything more than just display the time and date has so far been a commercially unsuccessful one. Plenty have tried to make gadget phones that people actually want to wear, but all have failed. The most recent attempt to do a gadget watch properly is Sony Ericsson and Fossils MBW-100 Bluetooth watch, which PC Magazine recently reviewed. Rather than going all out and designing a watch with full PDA functions, the partner companies decided to design a watch that could display simple information -- caller ID, text messages -- sent to it from a Bluetooth enabled phone. Its this "watch first, gadget second" approach that gives the MBW-100 immediate appeal to non-geeks, but unfortunately this particular watch isnt going to usher in a new era where everyone wears such a device. The MBW-100 is too expensive ($399), too limited (it currently only works with Sony Ericsson phones), and is too bulky for mainstream appeal (men with skinny wrists need not apply), although its the closest that anyone has come to successfully integrating gadget functions into a wrist watch without sacrificing style and the whole displaying-the-time thing. Hopefully future iterations will really get it right: watch this space for more.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Sony Ericssons MBW-100 Bluetooth watch reviewed
The concept of a watch that does anything more than just display the time and date has so far been a commercially unsuccessful one. Plenty have tried to make gadget phones that people actually want to wear, but all have failed. The most recent attempt to do a gadget watch properly is Sony Ericsson and Fossils MBW-100 Bluetooth watch, which PC Magazine recently reviewed. Rather than going all out and designing a watch with full PDA functions, the partner companies decided to design a watch that could display simple information -- caller ID, text messages -- sent to it from a Bluetooth enabled phone. Its this "watch first, gadget second" approach that gives the MBW-100 immediate appeal to non-geeks, but unfortunately this particular watch isnt going to usher in a new era where everyone wears such a device. The MBW-100 is too expensive ($399), too limited (it currently only works with Sony Ericsson phones), and is too bulky for mainstream appeal (men with skinny wrists need not apply), although its the closest that anyone has come to successfully integrating gadget functions into a wrist watch without sacrificing style and the whole displaying-the-time thing. Hopefully future iterations will really get it right: watch this space for more.
